by Donald Davis
Once the attack had failed, Joshua saw no other choice. Since the man wouldn’t stop the attack, Joshua brought the other dagger around and planted it in the man’s throat. The man stopped and grasped at his throat until he eventually bled out. Joshua stood up and looked at the older man. He looked back at Joshua and shouted, “Quickly, they have my wife and daughter trapped in the inn!” Joshua quickly grabbed his sword and followed the old man through the path and up to the inn.
Chapter 10: Trouble at the inn
Luckily Joshua was wearing his chainmail rather than his heavy armor on the journey. Even in his chainmail, he was almost out of breath by the time he and the old man had run up the path to the inn. He was still full of questions. Who is this old man? What exactly had happened? Why was that man trying to stab him? But he thought it more important to deal with the matter at hand first, then ask questions later.
Joshua and the man reached the old wooden porch of the inn. Joshua was about to enter the building when the old man stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. “When you enter the building, there will be a counter on the right, in the center of the room up against the back wall. To the far right at the end of the room will be a fireplace with chairs gathered by it. There is a staircase on the left side of the building. It leads up to the second floor. Up there is where all of the rooms are. There will be seven rooms at the end of the hall up there. I’m not sure where they will be, but I wanted to give you a layout of the building first because one of the men appeared to be an archer. So be aware of the balcony on the second floor. If he is stationed up there, he will be able to fire at you from above. I think there are only two of them here.” Tears started to form in his eyes. “Now please...go save my wife and daughter.” Trying to remember all the things the man had told him about the layout of the inn, Joshua prepared to enter the building.
Joshua decided to take a calm approach to the situation. Odds are, the people would be on the second floor if that’s where the rooms were. So if he snuck in, he could surprise them. He slowly opened the door and it creaked open. He looked through the crack and saw both the fireplace area and the counter that the old man had mentioned. Nobody in sight. He then opened the door the rest of the way and looked to the left, seeing the staircase. It appeared that the bottom floor was empty. Joshua then walked to the staircase and eased up the stairs. It was then when he heard struggling on the second floor. Still trying to stay somewhat quiet, Joshua tried sneaking up the stairs, but a little bit quicker.
When he reached the top of the staircase, Joshua peeked around the open door to see if anyone was in sight. He immediately saw a slim man trying to subdue a woman who was about the same age as Joshua’s mother. The man forcibly grabbed her arm and her shoulder and tried dragging her into one of the bedrooms. The man had the upper hand until the woman managed to knee him in the crotch. The man still tried holding on to her, but she then quickly kneed him again. Then again, the third time in the gut. Eventually, the man let go, trying to recover. Joshua noticed that the man had a bow. He shouted to the woman, “You, come to me!” The woman quickly ran to him, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to slip away from the other man for long.
The slim man recovered rather quickly, however, and with anger. He quickly drew his bow and prepared an arrow. “Look out!” Joshua shouted. Before he could get to her, it was too late. She tried to evade it, but the arrow had landed in her side and she collapsed to the floor, bleeding. Filled with rage, Joshua ran towards the man. He saw that he was already prepping another arrow, so Joshua quickly picked up a nearby wooden chair just in time to block the incoming arrow. The arrow did partly go through the chair but didn’t manage to go all the way through. Joshua kept running towards the man. Before he could prepare the third arrow, Joshua was already upon him. Joshua pushed forward and bashed the man with the wooden chair. The man fell backward to the floor, the bow falling from his grip.
Joshua stood over the man, pointing his sword to his throat. “What is the meaning of this? Who are you?” Joshua questioned him. The man gave a slight dark grin, “We are the Brotherhood of Coima,”he said. This took Joshua aback, but before he could say anything else, the man quickly reached for his dagger and struck up at Joshua. Seeing this in time, Joshua swung his sword and slashed the man’s arm before he could stab him. The man cried out in pain as blood ran down his arm. He then overflowed with anger. He tried to straight out tackle Joshua, but Joshua quickly stabbed him straight through with his sword. He pulled out the sword and the man fell to the floor, lifeless.
Joshua ran back towards the woman to see if she was alright. “Are you okay?” he asked. She raised her head and tried to manage words, “Quickly, there’s one more in the back bedroom on the right... he has my mother...” Joshua helped ease her up and lean her against the wall. He then ran to the other side of the hallway. When he reached the last door on the right, he could hear voices in the room. “Lady, if you’re stalling, I’ll kill you where you stand,” he heard a man say. He then heard a woman’s voice, “Sorry, I thought it was here. Let’s check the other room.” Joshua saw this as an opportunity and hid in the room next door with the door cracked open. The two people then exited the other room and started for the room across the hall. When they exited, the older woman looked down the hall to see her daughter propped up against the wall, bleeding where the arrow had struck her. Horror ran across her face. “No...no,” she whispered. She started sobbing as she ran to her daughter.
The man who was with her then looked and saw his partner lying dead on the floor. His jaw dropped. “What in the-” before he finished his sentence, Joshua ran out of the room he was in and stabbed the man. He let out a cry of pain. He quickly backhanded Joshua, knocking him back. He looked down, seeing the sword stuck in him. He tried pulling it out, but Joshua leapt forward and grabbed it first. He pushed and dug the sword deeper. The man let out another cry of pain. Joshua kept pushing until he had backed the man against the wall. He looked into his eyes, “Who are you? Why are you here?” The man managed a slight grin. “We are the Brotherhood of Coima,” he said smugly. “We take what we want and kill whomever we want.” Joshua was contemplating what all of this meant. Something still didn’t make sense. He then decided to end the man’s pain. Joshua pulled the sword out, then slit the man’s throat.
After the struggle ended, the older woman had Joshua carry her daughter to one of the bedrooms and lay her down. The older woman had some experience assisting a healer in her younger years, so she was going to do her best to stop the bleeding and to patch her up. Joshua asked if there was anything that he could do to help, but the woman insisted that she be given privacy.
Joshua left the room and closed the door, thinking about how out of hand this all had gotten. He walked out on the porch and saw the old man from before sitting down on a wooden chair. The man looked at Joshua as he walked out and said, “Have a seat.” Joshua accepted the offer. He walked over and sat in another nearby chair on the porch. The two of them sat in silence for a while. “My name is Aalot, by the way,” the man said. Joshua wasn’t sure exactly what to say. “I wish we could’ve met under better circumstances, Aalot.” Aalot was an older man, probably having seen his seventieth name day. “I am ser Joshua Bracken. I was recently appointed as a king’s knight, and I was on my way to Treadrock before I heard you and the other man struggling.”
“Well, ser Joshua, you have my thanks. If it weren’t for you, odds are all of us would’ve been robbed and left for dead or worse.”
“It was no trouble. That does remind me though, the men upstairs mentioned something about them being a part of the Brotherhood of Coima. Do you know anything about that?” Coima was one of the five kingdoms. It was known to be darker and a little different from the rest of them. Coima was usually ignored in business and trade deals from the other kingdoms, as only one of the kingdoms had an open trade agreement with them. From what Joshua had heard, the people of Coima were sometimes as dark as the kingdom itself. He had only heard
of the Brotherhood of Coima once before when he was young, but to his understanding, they were supposed to be an elite guild made of assassins who carried out assassination contracts. They were supposedly founded within Coima, but they were rumored to have secret hideouts hidden within each kingdom. But what would a guild of assassins want with a couple of old innkeepers and their daughter?
“Ah yes, the Brotherhood of Coima. They’re a dangerous bunch, that one.” Aalot said. Joshua was curious, “So, what do you know of them?”
Aalot spoke up, “Nothing much, but I do know that there’s no way that these men were part of a group like that. They seemed to lack the skill.” Joshua shrugged. “Maybe so. They did put up a fight though.” Aalot looked to him, “You took down three of them and only suffered one small cut that probably didn’t even penetrate your chainmail. Trust me, these were no assassins. Besides, they also lacked motive. To my understanding, they were trying to outright rob us. The Brotherhood of Coima are supposed to handle assassination contracts only, they’ve never been known to operate on theft.” They thought about it for some time. “My guess is, they were average small-time bandits who were trying to play it cool and scare people.” Joshua nodded, “Could be.” Hopefully he would never have to go up against the real group. They seemed like a fearsome bunch.
At that time, the older woman walked out of the inn. Joshua and Aalot turned to look at her and hear the news. She sighed, “Well, I think she’s out of danger.” Aalot was relieved. “That’s good to hear,” he grinned. He then looked back to Joshua, then back to his wife. “My apologies, this is my wife Mial. Mial, this is ser Joshua Bracken. He is a king’s knight who stopped to help us.” Mial took his hand and shook it. “Thank you, ser. Without you, things would’ve been much worse.” Joshua nodded gracefully, “Of course. It is my duty to help when need be. I’m just glad I made it here in time.”
At this point, it was nightfall and dark outside. Joshua tried asking if it would be okay for him to stay at the inn for the night. He offered to pay for the room, but they allowed him to stay free of charge. Joshua went to bed that night feeling good about himself. It felt nice to make a change and help those in need. With that in mind, he drifted to sleep.
The next morning, Joshua got up and readied himself for the day. He gathered his things once again and began to set out. The daughter who had been injured was still laying in bed resting when he left, so Joshua just wished Mial and Aalot for good fortune and fast recovery for their daughter. Joshua waved to them as he departed the inn. Perhaps he would stop by on his way back from Treadrock. After waving goodbye, Joshua took off on his horse once again. Thinking about helping the small family made him feel good inside. And with that, Joshua was back on the road to Treadrock.
Chapter 11: Treadrock
It had been two days since Joshua left Aalot and his family at the inn. He was relieved to know that he would soon be arriving at Treadrock. It was about time. Two and a half days of riding had begun to tire him, mostly from boredom. He started to wonder how his mother and Emilia were faring. It was a load off his mind to know that they would at least be receiving free food and necessities now. As long as he kept doing this king’s knight job, they would be taken care of. And that was all that mattered to him. Joshua started thinking back to what his father had told him when he was younger. “Family is important,” he said. “During your best days, and especially during your worst days, you always have a family to rely on. That’s what a good family does. We always look out and care for one another.” Joshua grinned, thinking of his father and how he had always tried to put his family first. The grin soon faded as Joshua started thinking about recent events. How could things get so complicated?
Before Joshua could ponder this question, he came upon a small wooden sign with an arrow pointing ahead with the word “Treadrock” engraved on it. “Finally,”Joshua said out loud. After trotting a short way further, the city came within sight. The city itself was surrounded by mountains on its west side. Some of the buildings were made out of stones while some were crafted from rocks and hardened clay and other materials. They all used colors that matched the mountainside. Some could argue that it made the buildings look bland, but Joshua thought that it gave the city a unique look.
The last half-day of traveling, Joshua noticed that the soil had gotten harder and drier than it had been. There was an open dirt road that led up to the city gates. When Joshua approached, there was the main wall with two archers on each side that stood guard up top. There were two guards on the ground that would speak to visitors and those going into the city. Joshua got closer and stopped his horse when he had gotten close to the soldiers on foot. One of them approached Joshua on the side of his horse. “What business do you have in Treadrock?” he asked. “Carrying out tasks for the king. I will need to speak to Garron Trent.” Joshua didn’t want to go into full detail with the men, he just needed entry. The guard nodded his head. “Ah yes, Garron told us to expect you. You may proceed.” He then turned to one of the guards on top of the wall. “Open the gates!”
Joshua briefly had a flashback of that dark rainy night at Keridion. “Hold the gate!” his father had shouted. Quickly shaking it off, Joshua nodded at the guards and proceeded. The big city gates slowly opened and Joshua entered the city. After passing through the gates, Joshua could see that Treadrock wasn’t quite as small as he had originally thought. It was a decent-sized city. Not quite as large as Roseshire, Treadrock was known for breeding some of the hardest warriors in Asedith. Blaire Sulvaine was one of the famous warriors that had been born and raised in Treadrock. The hardened soil and the mountains must play some sort of role in that. The fighters, the buildings, the mountains, the soil, the overall environment, everything just seemed to be tough in this city.
Joshua started slowly trotting further into the city. He saw merchants, traders, and blacksmiths with shops on the sides of the paths within the city. There were also plenty of common folks who were running about their day. Joshua looked up and to his left to see a large rounded building that had been built into the side of one of the mountains. A large staircase had been carved and led up to the building. If he had to guess, that was going to be the leadership hall of Treadrock.
As Joshua got closer to the building, he could see more details of it all. When he got to the bottom of the staircase, he could see various shapes and characters that had been carved into the side of the mountain as well as the building itself. Before climbing the stairs, Joshua spotted small horse stable sections that were off towards the side of the stairs. He took his horse over and stabled it.
He then walked to the stairs and started the climb. The people of Treadrock must have had quite the builders back in the day, Joshua thought to himself. The architecture of the stairs and buildings is very impressive. People passed him coming down the stairs. The leadership hall seemed rather busy today. This is where the leaders of Treadrock would choose what to do with governing and make choices for the city. The common folk could also come here to make appeals for smaller matters that pertained to the city of Treadrock and its people. Anything that was a large matter would have to be taken to the city of Roseshire to be appealed to the king.
When Joshua reached the top of the stairs, he could then perceive what the figures were that were carved within the walls of the building. They were various warriors over time that served Treadrock. Before walking into the hall, Joshua walked along the wall, examining the images. There was an image that showed a middle-aged man with a sword. According to the writing underneath, he appeared to be one of the founders of the city. The image next to him showed another man who was known as a bare-fisted combatant. From the carving, he appeared to be a large man who probably was strong enough to fight barehanded. As Joshua kept walking along. Towards the end of the wall, he came across a carving of Blaire Sulvaine. Even the carved image was huge. This wall must’ve been made of previous warriors and leaders of Treadrock. Underneath the image was the writing: “Blaire died fighting
for his city and kingdom during the Sulvaine rebellion. He was defeated at the battle of Keridion.” He fought valiantly, Joshua thought to himself.
The space next to Blaire was currently being carved into the walls by some of the city’s workers. This spot was most likely going to be the space for Garron Trent. Thinking of Garron, Joshua remembered the task at hand. As much as he would love to explore more of the city, he would rather finish his task so that he could return home. With that, Joshua turned around and walked back to the entrance of the leadership hall.
When he entered, Joshua saw a few people walking in different directions and going about their day. Joshua proceeded and walked further into the building. There were a couple of guards standing around towards the entrance and a couple more by the stairs that led up to the second floor. Joshua walked towards one of them and asked, “Hello there, where can I find Garron Trent?” The guard turned and pointed at the steps behind him. “Just up the stairs and take a right. There is a small area where the town leaders are gathered to hear appeals.” Joshua nodded and proceeded up the stairs.
Joshua walked up and turned to the right. He immediately saw a small crowd gathered in the room. Joshua looked through the crowd and spotted Garron Trent and the rest of the leaders of the city. There was a middle-aged fellow in front of the crowd, facing toward the leadership council. He was in the middle of making a request. “My lords, I know that I’ve asked before. But if you could help me out just a little bit more, the crops just aren’t growing. You know how rough the terrain and the soil is. And the lack of rain as of late truly hasn’t helped.” One of the other council members looked at the man. “I’m sorry. But we cannot spare anything. Times are tough as it is, following the war and all. You know we’ve tried to help before, but we just can’t keep giving handouts.”